iSuppli Forecasts Android Marketshare to Surpass iOS in 2012

By Bryan Chaffin

Aug 5th, 2010 7:31 PM EDT

Google’s Android OS marketshare in the smartphone market will grow to surpass Apple’s share of the market with its iOS platform in 2012, according to new forecast from iSuppli. The research firm said that by 2012, there will be some 75 million Android devices on the market, while Apple will have some 62 million iOS devices.

iSuppli estimates that Android will then have some 19.4% of the market at that time, up from 2.7% in 2009, and that Apple’s iOS marketshare will sit at 15.9%, up from 13.8% in 2009. The firm further forecast that Android will rise to 22.8% of the market in 2014, and that iOS will decline to 15.3%.

“Android is taking the smart phone market by storm,” Tina Teng, senior analyst, wireless communications, for iSuppli said in a statement. “The OS started with entry level models in 2008, but the flexibility Android offers for hardware designs and its appealing business model in terms of revenue sharing have attracted vigorous support from all nodes in the value chain, including makers of high-end smart phone models.”

She added, “Cell phone OEMs representing all tiers of the industry have committed to support Android, including Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Huawei, AsusTek and ZTE. This broad industry support will allow the Android OS’s usage and market share to exceed that of its chief rival — iOS — in 2012, just five years after its introduction.”

The firm’s report also noted that Apple’s iPhone will continue, “to be the standard by which all other smart phones are measured,” said that the company’s proprietary approach will limit the company’s reach into the market place.

Source: iSuppli

“While Google is trying hard to capture market share in the smart phone market, Apple’s strategy is aimed at making its products highly desirable but not necessarily affordable for the mass market,” Jagdish Rebello PhD, senior director and principal analyst at iSuppli, said in a statement. “Apple has been successful in doing this with its friendly User Interface (UI), its slick OS and its well developed ecosystem of apps and content providers.”

The company said that Apple maintains an advantage with the size of the App Store for iOS devices, boasting more than four times as many apps as Android’s Marketplace. iSuppli believes, however, that Google has been and will continue to be able to narrow that gap going forward.